Okay, so I’m finally starting to get a clue as to where to go with this story, so I’ll start writing. XD Hopefully, it’ll actually go where I want it to instead of just rambling forever.

Thanks so much to all of you who review, and even to those who just read it. The stats for this story are insane compared to my other stories, and you guys make me feel so happy!

Special thanks to Katie, for helping me come up with plots and theories, for beta reading, and just simply for being the best friend (outside of my own family) that I’ve ever had. Thank you so much!

And thanks to Lizeth for her art and her nice comments. I hope this chapter’s as good as the last one! :D

Oh, Spoiler Warning. This chapter mentions plot points from all the way up to manga chapter number 315, (the end of the Pendulum chapters). If you haven’t read that yet, this chapter may shock and amaze you. XD

... No, wait, it may do that anyway. o.O I’ve got some crazy stuff in here.

Hopefully there are no errors in this chapter... (There better not be. I’ve read through it like fifty times now, making corrections each time. XD)

And here’s a reminder of what’s going on, since it’s been so long since the last chapter...

Previously on Feeling Hollow, Ichigo was fighting against Hirako, but he got Cero’d and taken prisoner... Muahahaha-(ahem) I mean, poor Ichigo. u.u

Ichigo jerked suddenly awake, instinctively pushing away from whatever it was that was holding him and trying to get to his feet.

Immediately, two things came to his attention. First, every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire, protesting the sudden movements he was making.

Second, he was in a sitting position, not lying down, and apparently, he’d been bound to whatever he was sitting on so that he couldn’t get up. Which was probably why his muscles were all stiff and sore.

Slowly, Ichigo let himself wake up the rest of the way, breathing hard and trying to take in his surroundings.

He appeared to be in a warehouse of some sort. Everything around him was dark, but a dim light was filtering in through the top windows of the building. In the corners, a few piles of cardboard boxes had been stacked. Some distance away, there was an arrangement of several sofas and chairs, all of which were empty.

He himself seemed to be tied to a simple, wooden chair with a length of rope. In addition to that, his arms had been bound behind him with a Kidou spell; probably the same kind as the first one that Rukia had put on him.

A glance at his clothing told him that the Vaizard had somehow gotten a hold of his body and had stuffed him back into it before tying him down.

Stiffly, Ichigo tested the strength of the ropes. They were pretty solid, but he decided that if he yanked hard enough, he might be able to break them. Unless they’d been Kido’d or something...

He knew that he could easily break the Kidou spell holding his arms down, though.

‘Oh, good. You’re finally awake.’ Hichigo spoke up suddenly, smirking when he realized that his comment had caused Ichigo to jump a little in surprise. Then, Hichigo winced. ‘Get in here; those ropes are covered in that hollow repellant kidou.’

Ichigo nodded and pulled himself into his mental world so that he could talk to his hollow.

“Any idea where we are?” he asked Hichigo as soon as he found himself standing on the sideways buildings. “I mean, beyond some random warehouse somewhere?”

Hichigo shrugged, grinning. “I don’t know any more than you do. Couldn’t see anything after you were knocked out. I can only assume we’re in the Vaizard’s main base. Hopefully, we’re still close to Karakura town, but you’ve been out for a really long time, so we could be anywhere by now.”

“Great,” Ichigo sighed. “Well, the bindings they have me under seem pretty easy to break out of. I doubt that actually getting out of here will be quite that easy, though.”

Hichigo nodded, looking thoughtful. “The Vaizard can’t have gone far. They wouldn’t leave a prisoner unguarded, especially if they didn’t put much effort into holding you down.”

Ichigo groaned. “I can’t believe I got captured in the first place. Where did all that speed come from? Isn’t my Bankai supposed to be all about speed?”

“It’s part of the hollow abilities that the Vaizard have,” Hichigo explained with a smile. “So far, I’ve only been teaching you how to use your own abilities, not mine.”

Ichigo stared at him. “Wait, what?”

“What do you get if you combine a shunpo with the hollow equivalent, a sonido?” Hichigo asked, smirking.

“Uhh...”

Hichigo rolled his eyes. “Really fast, Ichigo. You get really fast. And besides that, higher speed is an ability all advanced hollows gain anyway.”

Ichigo scowled. “So why haven’t you been teaching me stuff like that, then? I mean, I know I’ve been working really hard on the Getsuga Tenshou stuff, but I could have been learning how to use hollow powers at the same time, right?”

Hichigo shook his head. “Nope! You haven’t earned the use of my powers yet,” he accused, laughing a little. “You can barely handle your own!”

“Earned?” Ichigo protested. “If you hadn’t noticed, some of those skills would have been nice to know earlier!”

“You’re not ready for them!” Hichigo countered easily. “And besides, if they hadn’t had that hollow repellant, we’d have been just fine.”

Ichigo frowned. “Look, I’ve been working hard, and I’ve gotten a lot stronger! If I haven’t earned being able to use hollow powers by now, then how in the world am I supposed to earn it?”

Hichigo smirked. “What do you have to do in order to earn Bankai?”

Ichigo had long since become used to Hichigo’s seemingly random topic changes, and he thought about the question, knowing that it tied in somehow with what he had been asking.

After a moment, he got it. “I have to win our fight first before you’ll teach me how to use hollow powers?” he asked incredulously. “I kind of need them right now!”

Hichigo started to retort, but then stopped, listening to something. “Someone out there’s calling you. Do you care?”

Ichigo frowned. “I’d better find out what they want from me,” he said grudgingly. With a sigh, he pulled himself out of the mental world.

“-ome on,” a voice was saying. “I know you’re awake. I saw you moving earlier.”

Ichigo glared up at the speaker, a man with silvery hair, wearing a tank top. “What do you want?”

The man didn’t look at all fazed by Ichigo’s rudeness. “We have food ready and you need to eat.”

Ichigo blinked, not quite expecting that. “Wait, what?”

“Food. Ready. Eating. Now. I assume you’re hungry, right?”

“Uh...” Ichigo’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “How do I know it’s not poisoned or something?”

The man rolled his eyes. “Because we’re all grabbing from the same plate, and poisoning that would be stupid. Besides, we’re not trying to kill you.”

“Oh.” Ichigo frowned down at the ropes holding him in place. “Do I at least get to have these taken off?”

Abruptly, the man reached over, grabbed a section of rope, and snapped it apart. The rest of the rope loosened and the Kidou spell holding Ichigo’s arms was lifted.

“Gah...” Ichigo’s shoulders were stiff from having been twisted in the odd position. Rubbing them, he gave the man a strange look. “Hang on; you’re seriously okay with taking all the bindings off just so I can eat?”

The man gave him a deadpan look. “You could have broken free from those any time you wanted. The ropes were mainly there for your own safety. The Kidou spell was just to warn us that you were awake. Now come on. Hope you like curry.”

Ichigo stared at him for a moment; then slowly, he stood and followed after him. “... This is the most bizarre kidnapping ever...” he commented, still rubbing one shoulder.

“We’re trying to be nice,” the man explained without turning around. “We’re not bad people, and we’re only doing this for your own good.”

Ichigo was skeptic. “Sure...”

The man led him to where there was food set up and handed him a paper plate and a fork. Frowning slightly, Ichigo put curry onto his plate.

Glancing around, Ichigo realized that the rest of the group had already grabbed food and was now lounging around in the various chairs and sofas around the warehouse, eating and chatting with one another. They seemed to be ignoring Ichigo, though he could tell it was just an act. They were keeping an eye on him curiously, and they were all ready to jump him if they needed to.

“I’m Kensei, by the way,” the man introduced himself. “That’s Mashiro, Hiyori, Hachi, Lisa, Love, and Rose... and you know Hirako already.” He pointed out each of the other Vaizard in turn.

Ichigo frowned. “Yeah. Great. Always nice to know who your kidnappers are,” he said sarcastically. He took his food to an open seat far from any of the others and began to eat, ignoring all of them.

The others were totally unaffected by his moody silence and continued to ignore him back, simply chatting with one another. Ichigo listened to their various conversations uninterestedly for a while before focusing inward again.

“So, what do you think?”

Hichigo mentally shrugged. ‘Why do you continue to assume that I know any more about this than you do, idiot?’ He smirked. ‘Frankly, I’m just glad they took those ropes off.’

“They really don’t seem to be bad people,” Ichigo commented, glancing around at each of them. “They’re honestly convinced they’re helping me somehow.”

Hichigo snorted. ‘Good people, bad people, whatever. You’re their prisoner, and they’re not going to let you go, no matter what you tell them. That makes them your enemies.’

Ichigo frowned. “Enemies or not, there’s not a whole lot I can do about them right now. I already tried fighting Hirako before. In order to defeat them, I’d have to be able to use hollow powers...”

‘You’re terrible at subtlety, you know,’ Hichigo rolled his eyes. ‘You don’t need to use my powers. Now shut up. I’m coming up with a plan...’

Ichigo sighed, falling silent and focusing back on his food.

He hadn’t been eating long when, suddenly, the entrance of the warehouse cranked open. Immediately, the Vaizard were all on their feet, their plates placed quickly on their seats and their hands ready at their sword hilts.

Ichigo put his own plate aside, getting ready to run. Even if this wasn’t a rescue attempt of some sort, perhaps he could use the distraction to get away...

“Hello!” From the entrance, there came a familiar, cheery voice. “Don’t worry! It’s just me dropping in for a visit!”

The Vaizard all relaxed, picking up their food again and dropping back into their seats, except for Hirako, who remained standing.

“Yo, Kisuke!” Hirako greeted. “What brings you our way?”

Ichigo stared. There, striding towards the group, was the last person he’d have expected to see here: Urahara Kisuke.

“Oh, you know. This and that,” Urahara answered vaguely, waving his fan slightly.

“You’re just in time,” Kensei spoke up from his chair. He gestured at the food. “We made plenty. Want some?”

Urahara grinned. “Don’t mind if I do!” He snapped his fan shut, grabbed a paper plate, and dished himself up some of the curry. Then he took one of the empty seats and grinned around at them all. “So, how is everyone?”

Ichigo finally lost it and stood suddenly, pointing dramatically at Urahara. “What in the world are you doing here?!” he exclaimed in shock.

Urahara was completely unfazed by the explosion. He smiled cheerfully. “Nice to see you’re doing well, Kurosaki-san.”

Ichigo sputtered unintelligibly for a moment before finally forcing words out. “So you’re behind all this, then?!”

“Not precisely, no,” Urahara answered with a grin. “I’m just here visiting some old friends of mine.”

“What do you want, Kisuke?” the short blonde girl asked in an annoyed tone.

“Want?” Urahara looked surprised. “Now, Hiyori-san, why would I come all this way just to ask for something from you?”

Hiyori scowled at him. “Because you always do.”

“True!” Urahara agreed readily. “This time, though, I came to talk.”

Hirako nodded. “About Aizen’s plans, correct?”

“And those of Soul Society and of Kurosaki-san’s group of friends,” Urahara confirmed with a nod.

Ichigo scowled, confused by the amount of new information suddenly being thrown at him. “Hang on just a second! I want some sort of explanation here!”

“Later, Baldy!” Hiyori shot at him, irritated.

“Baldy?!”

“You heard me!”

“Oi! Oi! Quiet!” the green-haired goggle-wearing girl frowned at them. “Explanations are boring. Berry-tan can get them later.”

Kensei nodded. “Let Urahara speak for now.”

Ichigo fumed. “Berry-tan?! What’s with all the stupid– Ow!”

Hiyori had gotten up and flipped one sandal up into the air, catching it and immediately using it to smack him in the head. “What part of sit down, shut up, and listen don’t you get, Baldy?”

Ichigo automatically sat back down in surprise at the sudden outburst. Scowling, he almost exploded at her, but decided grudgingly that he would rather hear what Urahara had come to talk about than to get into a pointless argument with some short brat. With great effort, he reigned in his temper, glaring at her, but saying nothing.

Hiyori smirked at him for a moment before whirling on Urahara, gesturing at him with the sandal. “Now, hurry up and tell us what you came to say, Kisuke, and don’t make me hit you too.”

Urahara held up both hands in surrender. “No need to get violent, Hiyori-san! I’ll get right to the point, then.” He cleared his throat and began, suddenly serious. “First off, Yamamoto-sou-taichou contacted me, asking for my help.”

Hiyori snorted. “He dares to stoop so low as to ask you for help?” she asked sarcastically.

“Quiet, Hiyori,” Kensei directed. She glared at him.

“What did he want?” Hirako asked with a frown. “What’s he planning?”

Urahara frowned. “I suppose I should start with Aizen’s latest move. You see, the goal of the Arrancar while they were here the other day was to kidnap Inoue Orihime.”

Ichigo’s eyes widened. “They kidnapped Inoue?” he demanded. “You said specifically that you were trying to prevent that!”

“I was,” Urahara confirmed, his hat shading his eyes. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”

Ichigo started to yell at him, but Hirako interrupted him with a sigh. “Did they kidnap Orihime-chan to use her powers?”

“She has very unique powers, to be sure,” Urahara replied. “But mostly, I suspect that Aizen is trying to draw Soul Society’s forces into Hueco Mundo in a rescue attempt. Soul Society’s official stand is that they will not attempt to go after her.”

“What?” Ichigo scowled. “They’re not even going to try?”

“They will not,” Urahara confirmed. “At least, not officially. However, they fully expect your friends to disobey their orders and go after Inoue-san themselves, and they are planning their attack on Hueco Mundo to serve as backup for them.”

Hirako shook his head. “Aizen will have set up a trap,” he commented. “He’s going to bring the fight here eventually.”

Urahara nodded. “Yes, and this is what the sou-taichou has asked me to do. Not only does he want me to open up gates to Hueco Mundo for the invading force, he wants me to open up gates to Karakura town for the rest of the captains.”

“The captains are going to fight in town?” the Vaizard with an afro, Love, asked with one eyebrow raised. “That’ll level the place.”

“I’ve told Soul Society to build a replica of Karakura town on the outskirts of Rukongai,” Urahara explained. “We will perform a spell that will swap the locations of the real Karakura town with that fake one. This way, Soul Society’s main fighting force will be brought here to meet Aizen, and the citizens of Karakura town will have been moved to safety.”

Ichigo frowned, trying to piece all the information together. “So, wait. My friends are going to break into Hueco Mundo by themselves... Meaning who, exactly?”

“Sado-san, Ishida-san, and likely Arbarai-san and Kuchiki-san,” Urahara supplied.

“Only four people, and Soul Society’s not going to back them up until they’re ready for their attack on Hueco Mundo? And then that’s going to supposedly trigger Aizen’s trap and send his main forces to Karakura town. Except that it’ll be a fake Karakura town?”

Urahara smiled. “That’s the gist of it, yes!”

“What will happen to the people in Hueco Mundo?” Ichigo asked seriously.

“That I can’t be sure about. I don’t know the nature of his trap,” Urahara admitted.

“And through all this, nobody at all is going to be trying to rescue me?”

Urahara grinned, waving his fan again. “Well, I managed to convince them that you’d be just fine without their help.”

“You did?!” Ichigo’s scowl deepened. “Are you trying to help them keep me here?”

“Why, yes! Yes, I am!” Urahara smiled. Ichigo glared at him, but before he could protest, Urahara returned his attention to Hirako. “But at any rate, I came here to warn you about the swap. Hachi should know the Kido spells required to exclude this place from the original spell so that you can help fight should you wish.”

The largest Vaizard, Hachi, nodded. “I know them.”

Hirako frowned again. “Right. So, while you’re here... Any theories on him?” he nodded at Ichigo.

“A few, actually,” Urahara said, looking Ichigo over thoughtfully.

Ichigo scowled. “Theories about me? What are you talking about?”

His question was ignored. “His behavior has certainly been strange this past month,” Urahara commented. “Especially the fact that he has been able to suppress his inner hollow on his own for this long without fear."

"If you wanted to know, why didn't you just ask me?" Ichigo asked irritably.

Ichigo was ignored again and Urahara continued. "Before I can explain my theory on this behavior, however, I should mention that I don’t believe his inner hollow is the same as yours.”

“Not the same, how?” Hiyori demanded. “A hollow is a hollow, right?”

Urahara shrugged. “Mostly. Let me explain. You see, my observations on this started during the time that I was first training Kurosaki-san, when I gave him his powers.”

Ichigo frowned, wondering where this was going. He knew that Urahara’s training was why he had both shinigami and hollow powers, but he hadn’t thought that Urahara himself had found anything strange about it.

“It went pretty much as expected right up to a certain point. Kurosaki-san had managed to stop the hollowification process halfway by gaining his shinigami powers and had therefore become part hollow. At that point, I figured that I would have to use the same techniques as I did for you, so that he wouldn’t be stuck in an in-between form...”

Ichigo scowled. “So you did make me a hybrid on purpose. Why would you-”

Urahara continued as if he hadn’t heard him. “And that’s when things got strange. Before I could do anything, Kurosaki-san broke through the hollow mask by himself and pulled it mostly off.”

Hiyori didn't get it. “So? What’s the big deal?”

Hirako, however, seemed to be thinking hard about this. “He broke through it himself? But, wait... Doesn’t that...? Kisuke, what would that mean?”

“Having never dealt with a situation like this before, I really couldn’t say exactly,” Urahara said thoughtfully. “But I believe that it means that Kurosaki-san is simultaneously a Vaizard and a natural Arrancar.”

Ichigo choked in shock. “I’m a what, now?”

The other Vaizard seemed to think this was as bizarre of a statement as he did, and they all started talking at once. “Say what?!”

“How would that even be possible?!”

“What does that mean?”

Urahara held up his hands to silence them. “Let me explain...”

When it was quiet again, he continued. “You see, when a hollow removes its mask on its own, without the assistance of a force like the Hougyoku, it actually becomes far weaker than it originally was. Then, slowly, it is able to build up its power again, until eventually it becomes stronger than it used to be due to its new shinigami powers.”

“Now what are you on about? This doesn’t apply to him,” Hiyori stated bluntly. “He can’t be an Arrancar! He wasn’t fully a hollow!”

“Kurosaki-san wasn’t, no. But his inner hollow is. I’ve never heard of a hollow becoming a natural Arrancar so quickly after becoming a hollow in the first place, but that seems to be what happened...” Urahara explained.

“But... But I pulled the mask off,” Ichigo protested. “It wasn’t...”

Urahara turned to him. “Do you know why you broke through it? Did you consciously decide to do so?”

“Uh...” Ichigo thought about this, trying to remember. “Well, I dunno... I guess I... just wanted it off...?”

Urahara nodded. “You appeared with both the hollow mask and the shinigami clothing. Even if your soul had completed the split between your shinigami half and your hollow half, they were both present at that time. Any move your hollow made then might have simply felt like automatic action on your part.”

Ichigo scowled. “How do you know I didn’t just do it myself, then?”

“Considering that you then left the mask mostly on until I hit it off of you, I assume the mask’s presence didn’t actually bother you very much,” Urahara stated. “And if it didn’t bother you, you wouldn’t have taken it off at all.”

Ichigo hesitated. “But... But it was definitely me in control after that, right? I mean, I remember what happened, and none of it was fighting for control or anything...”

Urahara nodded thoughtfully. “Well, that’s why I mentioned that a natural Arrancar becomes weaker at first. A newly-made Arrancar’s first instinct is to hide away until its strength returns.”

One of the other Vaizard, Rose, spoke up suddenly. “So, what? You’re saying that Ichigo’s inner hollow turned itself into a natural Arrancar, and because of this, his shinigami side was strong enough to take complete control back again?” he guessed.

“Exactly. Ichigo is different from the rest of you. You are all Vaizard, yes, but for Ichigo, Vaizard means part Shinigami, part Arrancar,” Urahara said slowly. “Thus, he is simultaneously a Vaizard and an Arrancar.”

Ichigo stared at him. “Is he right?” he asked Hichigo.

‘No idea,’ Hichigo admitted. ‘Do you remember the stuff you did two seconds after you were born? Sounds interesting, though. Explains a lot...’

Hiyori snorted suddenly. “Okay. Assuming your theory is correct, of course, what does this mean for him? Or for us, for that matter?”

Urahara shrugged. “It means that his inner hollow is a lot more powerful than any of yours were. It is at least as powerful as Aizen’s Arrancar, though possibly not Espada level yet...”

Hichigo mentally smirked. ‘I’ll show him not Espada level...’ Ichigo tensed slightly, but Hichigo was merely making a comment, not an actual threat.

“So, if Ichigo could harness that power...” Love said thoughtfully.

Rose shook his head. “He’d have to defeat his inner hollow first,” he pointed out. “That will be more difficult for him...”

“That is, if he wants to defeat his inner hollow,” Urahara said mysteriously.

The Vaizard all stared at him. Hiyori glared. “That’s stupid. Why wouldn’t he-”

“How did you know...?” Ichigo stared at him again.

Hiyori whirled on Ichigo. “You don’t want to?!”

“Uh... Well...”

“Idiot!” She rounded on Urahara again. “Explain! Now!”

“I’m getting to it!” Urahara protested in an attempt to keep her from hitting him with the sandal she was brandishing at him.

Hiyori hit him with it anyway. “No, you’re not! You’re being deliberately vague and mysterious! Now, out with it!”

Urahara hid under his plate of food. “Okay! You see, because Kurosaki-san’s inner hollow is an Arrancar, it has gained self-awareness. Intelligence. More than just what an ordinary hollow would have.”

“So?”

“So,” Urahara said tentatively, peeking out from under his plate, “that means there’s a possibility that it has somehow persuaded Kurosaki-san to work for it instead of fighting against it.”

Hiyori growled, turning to Ichigo again. “Okay, I know you’re an idiot,” she began slowly. “But I don’t care what it promised you, I didn’t think you were stupid enough to listen to a hollow!”

Ichigo scowled, getting to his feet. “I’ll have you know, he didn’t want anything do to with me! I’m the one who suggested we work together. So you can just take that theory and stuff it-”

“You suggested that you work together with the hollow living in your head?!” Hiyori smacked him with the sandal again. “That’s even stupider, you idiot! Do you even realize what it-”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ichigo argued, using one arm to block the sandal as it flew at his head again. “Hichigo isn’t like-”

“Hichigo?!” Hiyori laughed dryly. “You even gave the thing a name?”

Hirako smirked slightly. “Some name, though. How long did it take you to come up with that one?”

Ichigo glared at him. “Shut up.”

‘He has a point, you know,’ Hichigo snickered.

“Shut up!”

“Okay, so Ichigo’s been brainwashed by his inner hollow,” Kensei said bluntly. “What should we do about this?”

“I have not been brainwashed!” Ichigo protested, whirling on him. “If you people would just listen to me!”

Hirako looked thoughtful. “Our original plans for training won’t work if he refuses to fight his hollow,” he commented. “We really can’t force him to do anything inside his own head, and we can’t teach him anything out here either. If it’s using him, anything we teach him will be taught to it too. I’m somewhat at a loss, here.”

“I suppose it depends on what his hollow’s motives are,” Urahara pointed out. “What exactly is it trying to accomplish?”

“Control,” Ichigo said with a scowl.

This brought the conversation to a sudden halt. Urahara raised an eyebrow at him, not having expected an answer to that. “Control? Over what?”

“Control over me,” Ichigo clarified. He sat back down and folded his arms defiantly. “At first, he wanted me to just get out of his way and let him take over. He thought I was weak, with no way to become stronger. I convinced him to give me a chance to get stronger, so that whichever of us wins, we know we really deserve it. He’s been training me for the past month or so, and eventually, we’ll fight to see which of us gets control. That’s it.”

There was a long pause as the others thought about this.

Eventually, Hirako shook his head. “No way. Arrancar or not, no hollow would agree to something like that unless they had something to gain from it. It wouldn’t go out of its way to train someone just for a ‘fair fight’. Hollows aren’t like that.”

Ichigo scowled. “Well, maybe Hichigo is.”

“I repeat: Hollows aren’t like that. No hollows are, not even Arrancar,” Hirako frowned. “You’re clearly being manipulated. It must have some ulterior motive behind this ‘training,’ Ichigo.”

“And what if he doesn’t?” Ichigo argued. Inwardly, he hesitated. “You... don’t, do you?”

Hichigo snorted. ‘So what if I do? It’s not something you’d worry about.’

Hirako was replying, but Ichigo wasn’t listening to him anymore. “What do you mean? What are you planning?”

‘It’s nothing earth shattering,’ Hichigo smirked. ‘You wouldn’t be interested.’

Ichigo sighed in exasperation and closed his eyes so he could focus on the conversation. “You mean you just don’t want to tell me. How am I supposed to trust you when you-”

‘Nobody ever said you should trust me,’ Hichigo shot back. ‘You’re the one who keeps doing that, idiot.’

“So you are manipulating me?” Ichigo asked in disbelief. “After all this time-”

Hichigo rolled his eyes. ‘All this time, and one second makes you doubt me?’

“But you just said...”

‘I said that you shouldn’t trust me. Not that I was manipulating you.’ Hichigo laughed. ‘Besides, whether you believe me or believe them is up to you, idiot. Listen to us argue if you want, but you reached your own conclusions about me a long time ago.’

Ichigo frowned. “I decided to trust you, yeah, but that was before I realized you had other reasons for accepting this training. What are you planning?”

‘I’m not planning squat. They’re personal reasons and they won’t affect you, so you don’t need to know!’

“That again! You’re talking in circles!”

Hichigo shrugged. ‘You’re the one who keeps asking me questions that I already told you I wouldn’t answer.’

Ichigo scowled, starting to retort, but Hichigo interrupted him.

‘You shouldn’t let your conclusions be shaken so easily, Ichigo. Go with your instincts. Indecisiveness means hesitation. Hesitation is a weakness.’

“You’re only saying that because you know that my decision before was to trust you.”

Hichigo smirked. ‘Believe what you will.’

Ichigo growled in frustration and opened his eyes again, scowling when he realized that Urahara and the Vaizard were all staring at him hesitantly. With a sigh, he made his decision.

“I’ve been training with him for a month now,” Ichigo said stubbornly. “He is a hollow, but I think I can trust him, all right? I’d like to think I know the people I spend every day with.”

Hirako raised an eyebrow at him; then he turned to Urahara. “He still doesn’t know about Isshin, does he?”

Ichigo’s scowl deepened. “Isshin? As in my father? What about him?”

Urahara frowned. “Shh...”

“My point,” Hirako stated boredly.

“Granted,” Urahara agreed.

Ichigo growled. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing of importance,” Urahara shrugged.

“The point is,” Hiyori said with loud annoyance, “that we don’t trust your hollow as much as you seem to. And frankly, we don’t trust your judgment on the matter, neither.”

“So now the same questions come up again,” Kensei said thoughtfully. “What are his hollow’s motives, and what do we do about all of this?”

There was a long silence as they contemplated this. Ichigo scowled at them all, knowing that they weren't about to listen to anything he had to say.

Finally, Urahara sighed. “Well, if you keep him here, you’re not going to get anywhere with him. With things as they are, you really can’t give him any training that his hollow won’t be able to use against us should it decide to. He can’t help you with your mission, or it might suddenly turn on you mid-battle... So if Kurosaki-san stays here, he will only burden you.”

“You sound like you have a plan,” Hiyori said suspiciously. “One that we’re not going to like the sound of.”

“It’s the best idea I’ve got,” Urahara shrugged. “But, why not send him to Hueco Mundo to help rescue Inoue-san?”

Hirako shook his head firmly. “No. That’s a bad idea,” he mentioned. “That puts him far beyond our reach if he needs help and really close to Aizen should his hollow decide to turn on us. Anyway, Hueco Mundo is the world of hollows; his hollow will be stronger there.”

“Kurosaki-san is not likely to agree to anything you have in mind for him to do,” Urahara pointed out. “Including gaining control over his hollow in a controlled setting.”

“Right. So, how exactly is sending him to the world of the hollows going to help him? Or us?”

“That power boost from Hueco Mundo may be enough to convince his hollow to start that battle,” Urahara explained. “So, as long as I send him in before I send his friends in...”

Kensei frowned in thought. “Then he may actually accomplish something while we’re waiting for him to stop being an idiot.”

Ichigo scowled. “Will you all quit talking about me like I’m not here?”

His protest was ignored. “This puts him very close to Aizen,” Hirako warned again. “He will take advantage of that if he learns of it.”

“Kurosaki-san can usually take care of himself,” Urahara said cheerfully; but his tone held a note of uneasiness.

Lisa stood suddenly with a sigh. “I will escort him to Hueco Mundo.”

Hirako glanced at her. “What?”

“Our main concern is keeping him from joining Aizen’s forces against us,” Lisa said matter-of-factly. “Having a Vaizard escort with him will deter it from switching sides and hurting anyone. I will go.”

Hirako frowned. “If his inner battle begins while you’re near, Ichigo will attack you,” he warned.

Ichigo blinked. “What? I would-”

“I am aware of the danger involved,” Lisa said calmly, ignoring Ichigo again. She smirked. “At least if I am there, I can lead him around and sic him on enemies. And keep him from attacking his friends.”

Ichigo scowled. “What are you people talking about? Why would I be attacking anybody?”

“Idiot!” Hiyori rolled her eyes. “Don’t you know anything? When you start fighting the hollow in your head, your body outside will turn into a hollow.”

Ichigo frowned. “What are you talking about?” he asked again.

Urahara jumped in to explain. “I have no idea if the same thing actually still applies to you, Kurosaki-san. Typically, though, when you begin seriously fighting against the hollow in your mind, you lose control of your body during the battle.”

“So... The one in control is...?”

“Neither you nor your inner hollow is actually in control at this time,” Urahara clarified. “Rather, while your mind is away, your base instincts take over. You turn fully into a hollow, and you attack anything in range.”

Ichigo thought about this. “Base instincts? Isn’t that what a hollow is anyway?”

“Well, yes,” Urahara nodded. “Except that hollows also retain a very basic knowledge of things from their previous lives: language, those they were close to, and so on. Here, there is nothing but fighting. Pure instinct.”

“But we’ve been training for over a month,” Ichigo noted with a frown. “Part of that was fighting each other. I’m pretty sure I haven’t been rampaging all over town as a hollow while I wasn’t paying attention.”

“That was sparring,” Urahara said solemnly. “There’s a distinct difference when you’re concentrating on trying to eat each other.”

Ichigo coughed. “Wait, wait, wait. What? Trying to eat each other?!”

“True,” Urahara frowned. “With an Arrancar, it’ll probably just be trying to kill you...”

‘Definitely,’ Hichigo had a disgusted look on his face. ‘I imagine you’d taste funny. I don’t like strawberries...’

“Ha ha. You’re hilarious.” Ichigo intoned.

“I still don’t like the idea of sending him to Hueco Mundo,” Hirako said again. “Even with Lisa with him. Not that I don’t think Lisa can handle it; I just think that purposefully sending one of our better fighters into the middle of a trap is a bad idea. And trapping Ichigo there probably isn’t optimal either.”

Lisa frowned. “We don’t know what will happen in Hueco Mundo. For all you know, having me there will help. And anyway, Urahara will be sending multiple groups. He can send Ichigo and me first, and if I really need to be back here, Urahara can call my cell and I can use any of the other portals he opens to get back.”

Ichigo scowled. “Don’t I get a say in any of this?”

“You’ll want to go help your friend, obviously,” Kensei said dryly.

“I think it will work,” Urahara said slowly. “It’s probably your best course of action as far as Kurosaki-san is concerned.”

Hirako sighed; then finally, he nodded. “Fine.”

“When’s the soonest you can have a portal open for us, Urahara?” Lisa asked.

Urahara thought about this. “I’ll need a few hours at least.”

Lisa nodded. “Call us when you have it set up. We’ll meet you at your place.”

“Gotcha.” Urahara stood and, waving cheerfully, went out the warehouse’s main entrance, leaving Ichigo fuming in the midst of the group of unfriendly Vaizard.

“How do you manage to make a perfectly straight path while you’re reading?” Ichigo demanded, trying to build a shaky path of spirit energy under his feet as he ran.

Lisa was having absolutely no trouble with this gate between the real world and Hueco Mundo, forming a path effortlessly even as she continued to read. She took her gaze away from the book for a moment to raise an eyebrow at his horrible efforts, and then went back to reading again. “I’ve had training for this sort of thing.”

Ichigo scowled. “Training for what, exactly?”

“Don’t be so pathetic. It’s just basic spirit energy manipulation,” she informed him.

“This isn’t basic!” Ichigo complained. “Basic is making your own spirit energy do stuff. Making the spirit energy here do anything is a pain!”

Lisa uninterestedly turned a page of her book. “Then use your own. You’ve got enough.”

Ichigo blinked. “You can do that?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never needed to try.”

Ichigo scowled again. “Gee, thanks.” But he tried her suggestion anyway.

He discovered quickly that attempting to use his own spiritual energy resulted only in creating a path so unbearably bright that he ended up blinding himself. “Gah!” Wincing in pain, he stopped running, trying to blink the white spots out of his vision.

When he could see again, the first thing he noted was that Lisa had also stopped moving. She still wasn’t looking at him, but now she was trying to hide an amused smile.

Ichigo glared at her. “You knew that would happen,” he accused.

“Not at all,” Lisa said calmly. She continued moving, her pathway still as perfect as a paved sidewalk.

The very next step that Ichigo took cracked the path of spirit energy in front of him, causing him to teeter precariously on the edge before stepping back onto vaguely more solid ground.

Glaring at Lisa again, he focused back on the task of gathering energy into ground that he could actually walk on and ran after her.

After they’d been running for another good couple of minutes, Ichigo growled in frustration as he realized something. “Oh for... Her path’s perfectly fine; I can just use that!”

He jumped over to Lisa’s pathway, abandoning his own shoddy efforts. Now that he didn’t have to worry about the path buckling underneath him, he was able to keep up with her much better.

At least, until a sudden uneven section of path, which he could have sworn wasn’t like that a moment before, caused him to trip and land sprawling on the path in front of him. Lisa stopped, turned, and watched him get up with a totally neutral expression on her face.

Ichigo glared at her. “You just hate me, don’t you? You volunteered to come just so that you could torture me, didn’t you? Just who do you think you are?!”

A small smile touched the corner of her mouth. “Yadomaru Lisa,” she answered. “Nice to meet you.”

Ichigo growled in frustration. He glared at her, stepped deliberately off of her path, and continued making his own again, irritated at the slow pace she was making them travel.

Lisa watched him in amused silence for a while before also continuing on beside him, turning her attention back to her book.

Eventually, the two of them finally reached the end of the gate, smashing through a thin wall into what appeared to be a clean, white, dimly lit hallway.

‘Whoa...’ Hichigo said suddenly.

Ichigo blinked. “Whoa, what? What are you talking about?”

‘You don’t feel that?’ Hichigo asked in disbelief. He grinned. ‘The Vaizard were right; this place is so full of spirit energy, I don’t even know what to do with it all!’

“Great.” Ichigo scowled, tensing up slightly. “Does this mean...?”

Hichigo rolled his eyes with a smirk. ‘No. Just keep moving.’

With a frown, Ichigo returned his attention to his surroundings, looking around at the featureless hallway. “So, this is Hueco Mundo?” he asked Lisa, who was watching him carefully. “It’s... cleaner than I imagined...”

After a moment, she answered him. “Yes, it is. Now let’s get moving.” Lisa put her book in a carry bag she had at her side and started walking down the hallway. “We’re in an underground entrance location to Hueco Mundo. We need to get to the surface before we can travel towards Las Noches, and there are bound to be guards.”

Ichigo scowled. “Eh, there’s no trouble if we run into guards. We can ask them where they’re keeping Inoue.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “We already have a suspicion of where they’re keeping Inoue Orihime. Aizen probably already knows we’re here. There is no need to cause further ruckus.”

“Whatever.” Ichigo frowned, following after her.

‘If you do run into guards, you may need my help,’ Hichigo mentioned smugly. ‘And I’d better not get hollow repellant jammed in my face again.’

“I’m not going to need help for a few pathetic guards,” Ichigo said irritably. But he asked Lisa anyway, “You know how to use that hollow repellant kidou whatever, right?”

Lisa glanced back at him over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “Of course. Do you need it?”

Ichigo scowled at her. “No. I was just checking. Don’t use it on me, got it?”

Her face set in a frown and she paused in thought for a moment. “I won’t use it unless you appear to be struggling for control,” she finally agreed grudgingly.

Ichigo nodded. The two continued in silence.

Soon, the hallway opened up into a wide, open room. At the opposite end of the room was an enormous flight of stairs leading upward.

“That would be the way out,” Ichigo commented. He began running towards it.

Lisa stopped walking altogether, glancing around the room as if waiting for something to happen. Ichigo ignored her and kept going...

Until an Arrancar suddenly zoomed in over his head and landed between him and the stairs. Ichigo also came to a halt, frowning. “And that would be the guard.”

The Arrancar grinned at him. “Like, totally awesome! Intruders! And here I thought my day was gunna be, like, totally boring, ya know?”

Ichigo stared. Just what he needed. A preppy girl Arrancar...

The Arrancar was actually still very hollow-like. Her body was mostly that of a light red and white striped bird. Her broken mask, pulled up to reveal a human face, was placed in her straight brown hair like an oversized headband.

Reaching over his shoulder, Ichigo grabbed the hilt of his sword and unsheathed it. Behind him, Lisa drew her own sword, looking bored.

The Arrancar giggled. “A Shinigami and a girl with a sword! Like, totally my lucky day! Come on! Like, attack already! I’m, like, so totally ready for you!” She spread her wings and prepared to take off.

Ichigo ran forward, swinging Zangetsu and releasing a small Getsuga blast. As he expected, she dodged, and neither his sword nor the energy attack hit the Arrancar.

Abruptly, she used sonido to move to one side of him and, in the air now, dove straight for his head at top speed.

He turned and blocked with his sword. Her talons screeched across the surface of the blade as she flew past, sending sparks flying. A movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and he whirled again, just barely blocking her sharp claws as she zoomed past his head again.

Ichigo scowled. He could have sworn that she had been attacking from the opposite direction; even with flash steps, there was no way she could have attacked from that side that quickly. Unless...

He stopped, looking quickly around the room to try to confirm his suspicions. The Arrancar had landed a short distance away, looking back at him over her shoulder with a grin. However, on the other side of the room, another Arrancar, one that looked exactly the same, had perched on a high ledge.

“Like, it looks like you’ve figured out my ability,” one of the two chirped happily.

“It’s, like, duplication!” The other one exclaimed.

“Duplication!” another voice called from another corner of the room.

“Duplication!” yet another voice called.

The first one spoke again. “It’s, like, so totally awesome!”

Ichigo growled in annoyance, his grip on his sword tightening as he tried to figure out which of the rapidly appearing bird girls to attack first. Lisa sighed and stepped up beside him.

“I’ll take the ones on the right side of the room, and you get the left.”

Ichigo nodded and ran at them. Taking three of them down in quick succession, he scowled when he realized that as quickly as he killed them, more duplicates just appeared in their place.

They all laughed derisively. “Like, whatever, silly!” one of them giggled from within the swarm.

“You’re, like, so totally never gunna win if ya, like, keep up that lame attack!”

“Yeah, cause, like, you’re never gunna be able to, like, find the real me!”

“Like, you should, like, totally just give up now?”

“Cause, like, this is, like, so totally pointless, ya know?”

Ichigo sliced through another couple of bird people, who screamed in pain and dissolved. “Just shut up already!” he yelled.

“Whatever!”

“How, like, totally rude!”

“Like, yeah! Totally! Did you, like, never learn, like, manners?”

Ichigo lunged at the closest Arrancar, growling in frustration. Before he could hit it, though, all of the duplicates suddenly shrieked, spreading their wings wide and taking off all at once. The noise of the shrieks was shrill enough that Ichigo almost thought that it was an attack by the Arrancar, but then each duplicate began to disintegrate one at a time.

Coming to a halt, Ichigo frowned, looking around in confusion. After a moment, he spotted Lisa across the room, standing over the dissolving forms of at least fifteen of the Arrancar duplicates, calmly cleaning off her sword. Feathers were scattered everywhere.

When she saw him staring at her, she sheathed the sword. “Found the real one,” she informed him needlessly.

With a sigh, Ichigo sheathed Zangetsu and put it on his back. “Obviously.”

Abruptly, the walls began to shake, large chunks breaking away from the top. Ichigo scowled. “What’s going on now?”

Lisa began running towards the stairs. “She must have rigged the place to collapse if she was killed,” she called back at him. “Hurry.”

Ichigo nodded and began to run after her, the stairway destroying itself around them as they ascended.

They had almost reached the surface when the whole thing collapsed completely, filling in with white sand.

Clawing past it, Ichigo burst out into the open, choking up sand as he tried to take in air. Lisa came up beside him a moment later, also spitting sand and coughing hard.

As he emptied large amounts of sand from both sleeves and the front of his shirt, Ichigo groaned. “Great, now I’ve got sand everywhere,” he complained.

Lisa was having a hard time maintaining her usual calm composure as she tried to shake the sand out of her braided hair and empty it out of her clothes and her bag. She said nothing, still coughing a little.

Eventually, when Ichigo was sure he still had everything important with him and he was halfway sure that he was mostly sand-free, he began to look around his surroundings.

All around, there was nothing but sand and white, dead trees. The sky above was black, and a strange crescent moon gave everything an eerie glow, but there were no stars to be seen. “So, this is Hueco Mundo... There’s nothing here...”

Lisa made a noncommittal noise, still brushing sand away from her belongings.

Continuing to gaze around, Ichigo suddenly spotted what was obviously Las Noches, looming huge in the distance behind them. He gaped at it. “Whoa... That’s Las Noches? It’s gigantic!”

Lisa turned to see what he was looking at it and frowned. “It is,” she agreed solemnly.

“How are we going to be able to find Inoue in there?” Ichigo asked, mostly to himself. “Look at the trees down at the base; they’re tiny. That place could take months to search.”

Lisa shrugged. “We’ll worry about that later. Come on, let’s go. It’s going to take a while to get there.” With that, she started running. Ichigo quickly followed her.

After a while, Ichigo became sick of the silence and tried again to start up a conversation.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting from a hollow world, but this wasn’t it,” he commented.

Lisa glanced back at him, but didn’t respond.

Slightly annoyed by her lack of interest, Ichigo continued. “I mean, it’s totally devoid of life... There’s nothing here. Even the trees are dead.” Ichigo frowned at one.

“They’re not really trees. They’re made out of white stone,” Lisa informed him boredly.

Ichigo blinked. “Really?”

“And there is life,” Lisa said. “They’re just all hollows.” She pointed out a small lizard-looking animal with a mask and a hollow hole in its back.

Ichigo frowned at it as they passed by. He hadn’t even noticed them before, but now that he looked, he noticed several small creatures like these here and there. “That’s weird. Don’t hollows eat people? What does a tiny thing like that live on way out here?”

Lisa just shrugged and continued to run in silence.

Ichigo scowled. So much for starting a conversation...

After a much longer time, Ichigo began to wish he had a watch of some sort. It felt like they’d been running forever by now, though the moon above them hadn’t moved an inch and, ahead of them, Las Noches seemed exactly the same distance away as when they’d started out. It was impossible to tell time...

“How long have we been running?” Ichigo finally asked exasperatedly. He was beginning to tire out.

Lisa didn’t miss a beat. “About three hours,” she answered.

“Three hours?” Ichigo exclaimed. “That’s impossible; shouldn’t the moon have moved at least a little by now?”

“It’s always night in Hueco Mundo,” Lisa explained. “If you want to take a break, we can.”

Ichigo scowled again. “We should try to at least make it to Las Noches before we stop,” he said stubbornly.

“That will take us a long time. I suggest we rest for now.” Lisa slowed to a stop and, resting her hands on her knees, she took in deep breaths.

A few paces ahead of her, Ichigo also came to a stop, realizing that all the running had left him more out of breath than he’d expected. With a noise of frustration, he let himself collapse onto his back in the sand, breathing hard.

Lisa raised an eyebrow at his sprawled position and slowly lowered herself to a sitting position on the sand to rest.

For several minutes, they stayed like that in silence. As soon as Ichigo’s breathing was even again, he sat up, glaring at Las Noches. “It never seems to get any closer! Just how far away is this place, anyway?”

“A lot further than it looks,” Lisa answered.

Ichigo sighed. “It must be even huger than I thought,” he lamented.

“It is,” Lisa stated.

Ichigo glared at her. “How would you know?”

She stood without answering his question. “If you have breath enough to ask stupid questions, you have breath enough to run again. Let’s go.”

Grumbling, Ichigo got to his feet again. “Why do you hate me so much, anyway?” he complained.

Lisa ignored the question, simply starting to run again. Ichigo scowled and ran after her.

Hichigo mentally snickered. ‘You have to ask that question a lot, don’t you? Why do so many people hate you, Ichigo?’

“Shut up.”

Lisa spoke up again after a moment of running. “Ichigo, listen up. I’ve got something important to say to you.”

Raising an eyebrow at her, Ichigo frowned. She had refused to talk to him before, and now suddenly she had something she wanted to say? “What about?” he asked curiously.

“Shinji gave me permission to tell you our story. You know, how we became Vaizard.” She glanced over at him to gage his response.

Ichigo’s frown deepened. “Why do I need to know something like that? I mean, obviously Urahara-san was involved. Do I need to know more?”

Lisa’s eyes flashed in annoyance and her gaze returned to their goal as they ran. “Shinji thinks you’ll trust us more if you know where we come from. And besides that, you obviously have some big misconceptions about Urahara that need cleared up.”

“Misconceptions, how?” Ichigo demanded. “Unless someone else dressed in a funny bucket hat and sandals cut my soul chain and dropped me into a giant hole, this is all Urahara’s fault, right?”

Lisa hesitated, and then frowned. “I'll admit that I am unsure of his intentions with you. He never told us much about you. However, perhaps we’d better start at the beginning of the story.”

Ichigo rolled his eyes. “Not like we have anything else to do out here. Go ahead.”

With a sigh, Lisa began, “The part you need to know starts about one hundred years ago, about nine years after Urahara Kisuke was promoted to 12th division captain...”

Rukia stood on one of the balconies that looked out over the gardens of her brother’s mansion, staring down at a Koi pond below and brooding to herself.

“Hey.” Someone had come up beside her. Rukia glanced over to see Renji leaning on the balcony ledge a short distance away. “What are you thinking?”

Rukia hesitated for a moment; then she sighed. “Trying to plot how to sneak past Niisama’s guards to use his Senkaimon.”

Renji laughed. “Me too,” he admitted. “Got any good ideas yet?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Rukia frowned. “I never was any good at sneaking out and, anyway, if I have you with me, it’ll be impossible.”

“Ouch,” Renji grabbed his chest as if he’d been stabbed, still grinning at her. “You wound my pride.”

“Good,” Rukia shot at him jokingly. “Have you got any ideas?”

Renji sighed, shaking his head. “Nah. One thing about the captain; he keeps his guards well trained.”

Rukia nodded, leaning both arms on the railing and resting her chin on them. “It’s just not fair,” she complained softly. “It’s my fault Inoue’s in this situation in the first place, and we can’t even...”

Renji looked up at her in surprise. “Your fault?” he asked with disbelief. “Your fault how?”

“I’m the one who suggested she come to Soul Society to train with Unohana-taichou,” Rukia said with a frown, glancing at him. “I brought her here. I should have known she’d want to come to help if she heard there was an attack, and traveling from one world to the other is the most dangerous place to be during an attack. I should have known that-”

“You couldn’t have known this was going to happen,” Renji argued.

Rukia frowned at him. “And it’s my fault that the captains think she’s a traitor, too,” she continued stubbornly. “If I hadn’t been so weak in that fight, I wouldn’t have gotten so hurt. She wouldn’t have had to come heal me, and Ichigo wouldn’t have been...” she trailed off.

Renji took her by the shoulders and forcefully turned her to face him, scowling down at her. “Ichigo will be all right,” he said firmly. “He can take care of himself. You getting hurt has nothing to do with it either; not with Inoue and not with Ichigo either. And don’t you dare let me hear you call yourself weak again, you hear me?”

There was a long silence as Rukia took deep breaths, unable to make eye contact with her friend.

Finally, she spoke again. “Renji, Ichigo was in trouble, and I couldn’t do anything,” she whispered, finally voicing what was really bothering her. “Not a single thing. I couldn’t even stand.”

Renji hesitated, not sure what to say to her.

She didn’t mind; she just kept talking. “This whole month, I’ve been trying my best to help him; to help anyone. But all I keep doing is getting in the way, or making things worse.” Rukia laughed bitterly. “Maybe it’s better that I’m not allowed to go after Inoue. I’d probably just screw everything up.”

“You wouldn’t,” Renji frowned at her, speaking forcefully.

“I would,” Rukia insisted, glaring up at him. “Ichigo even told me I was in his way, and that I should go help everyone else instead. I didn’t listen to him, and sure enough-”

“Rukia, you were there to support him through all this. You did everything you could possibly have done, and that’s all anybody can ask of anyone.” Renji said, frowning. “And besides that, though I doubt that idiot would ever admit it, I know he’s grateful to have you around, despite what he tells you.”

Rukia scowled at him. “How could you know something like that?”

“I know I always am...” Renji answered softly. He suddenly realized that he’d said that out loud and let go of her shoulders, glancing away from her.

Rukia sighed and looked back down at the pond below, not noticing his embarrassment at the statement. “Thanks, Renji.”

Renji laughed slightly, shaking his head. “I think I’ve told you before about thanking me for stupid things.” He leaned back on the railing again. “Someone’s gotta be the one to beat some sense into you sometimes.”

Rukia smiled. “Thanks,” she said again anyway.

Renji smirked at her and was about to respond when the sound of approaching footsteps on the wooden balcony caught their attention.

Byakuya was walking slowly towards them, carrying a bundle of cloth under one arm.

Renji suddenly realized how close to Rukia he was standing and tried to move inconspicuously away from her. Rukia frowned at him; then she returned her attention to her brother.

“Were you looking for me, Niisama?” she asked stiffly.

Byakuya nodded.

“I’ll just head out, then,” Renji said quickly. “I don’t want to-”

“I wish to speak with you also, Arbarai-san,” Byakuya stated.

Renji fumbled for a moment; then chose to remain silent, awaiting what Byakuya had to say. Byakuya seemed vaguely amused by this.

“The two of you will need these,” he said simply. He held out the bundle of cloth for Rukia to take.

Curiously, Rukia took it, parting it to reveal that it was actually two bundles. With a frown, she passed one of them to Renji and looked up at her brother. “What are they?”

Byakuya smiled slightly. “Capes, of course. The place you are heading is very dusty. You’ll need them.” With that, he turned and began to walk away.

“Niisama... What...?”

He glanced back at her, one eyebrow raised. “My orders were to take you back to Soul Society if you refused to come yourself. They did not include anything that said I had to keep you under lock and key afterward. You will be leaving, correct?”

Rukia’s eyes widened as she realized that her brother was giving them permission to go, despite Soul Society’s orders. Not only that, but he had equipped them for a trip into Hueco Mundo.

“Niisama, you’re... defying Soul Society?”

Byakuya frowned. “I am not,” he stated, sounding offended. “I believe I just said; my orders have nothing to do with this.”

“But...”

“Have a nice trip,” Byakuya interrupted, beginning to walk away again. “Come back safely.”

Rukia smiled. “Thank you!” There was a pause, and then she elbowed Renji, who also called out thanks, with some surprise.

Byakuya raised a hand in acknowledgement and disappeared around a corner.

Hesitantly, Renji smirked. “Well, what do you know? I guess he’s not such a bad guy after all. Come on, let’s get to the Senkaimon! Urahara-san will be able to open the gate to Hueco Mundo for us.”

Rukia wasn’t really paying attention to him. “Hueco Mundo... to rescue Inoue?”

Renji raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes. Where else?”

“But what about... I mean, there are two people who need rescuing, right? Should we really be going after Inoue, or should we be looking for Ichigo?”

“Inoue should be our first priority,” Renji told her. “For one thing, we already know where she is. We have no idea where the Vaizard took Ichigo. Besides, Ichigo has the ability to take care of himself should he need to. Inoue does not.”

Rukia frowned. “But...”

Renji sighed. “From your own report, the Vaizard are not trying to hurt him, or any of us. If anything, they’re trying to give him some, from what you told me, much needed help.”

“And what if he doesn’t want that help?” Rukia shot at him. She had left all mention of Ichigo's inner hollow out of her official reports, but she'd told Renji everything. She had told him her thoughts on the Vaizard's plans before, too, but she felt she needed to say it again. “He should be able to make his own decisions on the matter!”

“Whether he wants that help or not, Ichigo himself is not in danger,” Renji reasoned, folding his arms. “And the longer he stays with them, the less danger he’s in. You saw Ichigo’s inner hollow take over, did you not? If the Vaizard can make that stop...”

Rukia looked downcast. “Ichigo was about to tell me something about that, though. I don’t know what it was, but...”

Renji sighed and backtracked to the original subject. “Ichigo is not in danger. Inoue, on the other hand, is in Hueco Mundo with Aizen and his Arrancar. There’s no telling what he’s planning on doing with her. She needs our help now.”

“... I know. I’m sorry.” Rukia looked away. “I just wish...”

Renji shook his head. “I understand that you feel responsible for what happened to Ichigo. But you shouldn’t. You had nothing to do with it. Now, we can’t do anything for him at the moment. But we can help Inoue. So, let’s go.”

Rukia’s expression hardened and she nodded solemnly, throwing the cape on over her shoulders. Smiling, Renji fastened his on as well and the two of them headed silently to the Senkaimon.

Ichigo frowned as he listened to the end of Lisa’s story, thinking hard as they continued to run. “So... Aizen has been planning all of this for over a hundred years?”

“This, and probably more,” Lisa confirmed.

“So, my friends and I... We’re all nothing but afterthoughts to all these plans. We’re really only here because we happened to stumble into this mess that you guys have been dealing with all this time. We’re just last minute recruits.”

“To some extent,” Lisa agreed. She frowned at him. “I don’t see why this bothers you. You’re a backup plan. It just means the weight of the world’s not on your shoulders. Gives you some freedom.”

Ichigo didn’t respond, still trying to think about this.

Lisa smirked at him. “Oh, I see. That’s it.”

Ichigo scowled. “What?”

“You’ve developed a hero’s complex. You like being told, ‘You’re our last hope, Ichigo! If you fail now, it’s all over!’ and being able to run in and save the day; a big hero.”

“Shut up. That’s not it.” Ichigo came to a stop and glared at her.

Lisa stopped as well, turning back and frowning at him. “Isn’t it? What do you fight for, Ichigo?”

Ichigo hesitated. “I... I guess I fight because I have to. I have to help my friends...”

Hichigo snorted in disapproval and mentally shook his head. Ichigo frowned.

Lisa watched him carefully. “And now that you’ve been told that you really don’t have to? There are others coming to fight. You can stop now, and the only person you’ll affect is yourself. What is your motivation?”

“All I’ll affect is me?” Ichigo scowled at her. “I don’t think so. I’m not giving up now. I’ve got people counting on me.”

Lisa gave him an odd look. “Nobody even knows where you are right now. Counting on you? They think you need rescued. And besides, I just said; they don’t need your help. Soul Society will be sending them captains as backup. Try again. Why do you fight, Ichigo?”

Ichigo hesitated again; then he sighed. “I fight because I want to become stronger. So that I can protect them if I need to.” Hichigo still looked somewhat annoyed at his answer, so Ichigo added, “And also... because I guess, to some extent, I like fighting.”

Lisa smiled slightly. “Mmhmm, sounds like a major case of hero’s complex to me.”

Ichigo scowled again. “Hey...”

She smirked and set off running again. “Come on, Hero. We’re off to go rescue the princess.”

“Hey, knock it off,” Ichigo complained, running after her. “When did this turn into make-fun-of-Ichigo time? We were talking about you!”

Still smiling, Lisa glanced back at him. “Fine. Anything in particular you wish to know, or are we done talking?”

Ichigo blinked. “Uh...”

“I thought so. I’ve already told you everything you need to know.”

Ichigo scowled. “Hey, just because I couldn’t come up with something in the two seconds warning you gave me...”

Lisa was about to answer when suddenly a much louder voice suddenly interrupted her.

“Two seconds warning is more than intruders like you will get from me! Bwahahaha!”

Lisa and Ichigo both came to an abrupt halt as the sand before them began to rise up into the air, quickly forming a giant column that towered at least ten times their own heights over them. Looking up, Ichigo saw that the column had formed a face, two arms, and a hollow hole.

“What the... a hollow made of sand?” he exclaimed.

“I am Lunuganga, Guardian of the White Sand,” the giant hollow bellowed. “And I’m going to crush you!” It brought one of its giant arms flying straight towards them.

Lisa and Ichigo dove in opposite directions, rolling to avoid the hollow’s arm as it smashed into the ground. Sand flew up all around them.

In one swift movement, Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu’s hilt and swung the sword forward, the hilt wrap releasing the blade a split second before blue energy formed along its length. “Getsuga Tenshou!” The attack sliced right through the pillar of sand, cutting it in two.

Resting his sword on one shoulder, Ichigo smirked at Lisa. “Guess I’m not so useless after all, huh?”

Lisa just raised an eyebrow at him and unsheathed her sword, facing back toward the split column as if expecting it to continue attacking.

“Hey, what are you...?”

“No regrets, intruder?” the sand hollow’s rumbling voice interrupted him. “You will soon regret that!”

Ichigo stared up at it as the two split pieces came back together, reforming into the hollow’s face as perfectly as if it’d never been attacked. “What the...?”

“It’s made out of sand, Ichigo,” Lisa informed him. “Physical attacks aren’t going to do anything.” She put her hands together and began the incantation for a kidou spell.

Ichigo scowled. “But Getsuga Tenshou is an energy attack!” he protested.

‘It’s like a firecracker,’ Hichigo realized what the problem was and quickly explained. ‘Big explosion, but not enough heat concentrated in one spot long enough to do much lasting damage. You need enough heat to melt the sand into glass so it can’t move.’

Ichigo rolled to one side to avoid another blow aimed at his head. “Great! Very useful! I don’t have anything that can do that!”

“Way of Destruction number 63, Lightning Cannon!” Lisa completed her kidou spell, gathering lightning around her hands and firing it in a wave at the sand hollow. Wherever the attack hit, a line of glass was left in its wake.

Unfortunately, the spell wasn’t large enough to stop the hollow; it simply moved around the sections of sand that were becoming glass. “Trying to restrict my movements with a weak attack like that?” it bellowed, swinging at her with a huge fist. “You’d have to melt the entire desert to stop me!”

Ichigo growled. “It’s got to have some sort of weakness!”

“Well, we’re not figuring it out by just standing here,” Lisa shot at him. “Do you have any water attacks?”

Ichigo stared at her. “Water?!”

“In a desert, it’s the one thing it wouldn’t be used to! It might-”

“Too much talk!” the hollow yelled. “I’ll just bury the both of you alive!” Abruptly, the sand beneath Ichigo and Lisa began to slide, forming a giant sinkhole of sand.

Ichigo kicked hard to free his feet from where they had sunk into the sand, turning away from the center of the sinkhole and beginning to run up the slope to get away from it.

Some distance away from him, Lisa was doing the same, though she appeared to be having much more luck; she had made it almost to the more solid sand again, chanting another kidou spell under her breath as she ran.

‘Idiot! Use the air to stand on, not the sand!’ Hichigo directed. ‘Are you a Shinigami or aren’t you?’

“Oh, right!” Ichigo did so, suddenly able to run much faster now that his feet weren’t sinking with every step.

Ahead of him, Lisa fired her kidou spell over her shoulder. A dark blue blast of energy of some sort flew back and collided into one of the hollow’s arms, blowing it off. It crashed to the ground and exploded into a pile of sand.

The sand hollow gave a loud cry of irritation. As it lost its concentration to reform the missing arm from the sand around it, the sinkhole stopped growing and Lisa was able to make it to more solid ground.

Then the sand hollow discovered that Lisa’s attack was more effective than it had first appeared; the kidou spell had left mud on the side of the hollow where its arm used to attach, and the newly reformed limb was mostly a muddy mess. “Why you...! How dare you?”

It swung down at Lisa with its remaining good arm, slamming it into the ground repeatedly in a maddened attempt to smash her into the sand. Lisa was able to dodge each time, though barely, and she was no longer able to concentrate on chanting kidou spells.

Ichigo finally crested the top of the slope and, timing his attack so that he wouldn’t hit Lisa, sent a Getsuga Tenshou at the sand hollow, trying to distract it. The attack connected solidly with its good arm, and it fell into the sand the same way the other one had.

The sand hollow howled angrily, easily reforming the arm and slamming its hand into the ground in front of itself. Abruptly, the sand beneath Ichigo’s feet seemed to liquidate. Something, probably the hollow’s hand, wrapped around his ankles and started dragging him down quickly underneath the surface.

With a startled cry, Ichigo began sending small Getsugas down at the quicksand at his feet, but they had no effect. Barely able to keep his tight grip on Zangetsu’s hilt, most of Ichigo’s body disappeared below the surface along with his sword.

Lisa, having used Ichigo’s distraction to get another quick kidou spell ready, fired it at the hollow. The blue spell glanced sharply off of its arm and smashed into the sand in front of it. Something down there exploded from the contact and large chunks of hardened sand went flying everywhere.

The sand hollow’s loud screams filled Ichigo’s ears as the force of the explosion sent him toppling head under heels deeper into the still water-like sand.

No longer sure which way was up, unable to tell which direction the continued sounds of battle were coming from, and totally buried now, Ichigo had just one last thought before he blacked out. ‘Why does this keep happening to me?”

“I thpy... thomething... white!”

“The sand...”

“Right! Letth try another one! I thpy... thomething... white!”

“The sand...”

“Right! You’re really good at thith!”

Voices... They were distant, but Ichigo could still barely make them out. One was the voice of a child, and the other was an annoyed teenage boy...

Trying to lift his head, Ichigo quickly discovered that he couldn’t move a muscle. There was something tightly packed all around him, preventing him from even trying to struggle free... Attempting to open his eyes just filled them painfully with sand.

Great. He was buried in the sand in Hueco Mundo, and although he could hear people somewhere above him, he had no way of letting them know he was here and no other way of getting unburied either...

He just had to hope these people would notice him... But he had no idea how far under the sand he was either, so that seemed like a pretty small chance...

“The sand...”

“You’re right again! Okay, I thpy... thomething...”

“Let me guess. The sand.”

“... Wow... I didn’t know you were thychic, Ithida-than!”

The boy sighed in irritation. The child continued. “Okay, Okay, new one. I thpy... thomething... ... orange?”

“The sa... Wait, orange? What could possibly be orange way out here?”

“Hey, Bawabawa, thtop! Thtop! I wanna thee what it ith!”

A rumbling in the sand, which had been growing louder for the past few minutes, slowed to a stop, and Ichigo heard quick footsteps coming from somewhere above him.

“Look! Look! I found an orange busth!”

Ichigo suddenly felt small fingers entwine themselves in his hair and pull sharply. He yelped in pain, his mouth filling with sand. Then, realizing that he was obviously close enough to the surface that his hair was getting yanked on, he started trying to struggle to the top.

“Whoa! It’th a moving orange busth!”

“It’s a what? Nell, what are you...” More footsteps began heading his direction for a while before suddenly stopping. “Nell, that’s not a bush! Kurosaki, is that you?”

“Ichigo?” a third voice asked in wonder.

With the help of the child yanking on his hair and people above him digging, Ichigo was able to get his face above the surface so he could actually breathe properly. Choking up sand, he blinked up at his rescuers.

“Ishida?” he coughed.

“Kurosaki, what in the world are you doing buried in the sand in Hueco Mundo?!” Ishida asked in irritation, digging up one of Ichigo’s shoulders and pulling on it.

Ichigo laughed a little. “That’s a good question... Is Chad here?”

In answer, Chad grabbed Ichigo’s other shoulder. Between the two of them, they soon got Ichigo up out of the sand.

“Aaaugh...” Ichigo groaned, trying to dump all of the sand out of his clothing again. “Great. I have sand in places I didn’t even know existed... I hate this place.”

“Kurosaki, what are you doing here?” Ishida demanded.

Ichigo grinned at him. “Well, I was trying to rescue Inoue. Guess I wasn’t doing too hot of a job though, huh?”

“What happened?” Chad asked.

“Ran into some sort of guardian sand hollow thing,” Ichigo explained, frowning. “It’s really hard to attack something made of sand. I got buried pretty quickly.”

Chad frowned slightly. “What I meant was, Urahara-san told us that you’d been kidnapped by some people that he called Vaizard...”

“Yeah, how did you get away from them? How are you in Hueco Mundo? And how’d you even know about Inoue-san?” Ishida questioned.

“Urahara, Urahara, and Urahara,” Ichigo answered grimly. “Are Rukia and Renji here yet? And who are these guys?” he gestured at a young girl and two humanoid hollows, who were standing to one side, watching him curiously and whispering to one another.

“Urahara?” Ishida asked incredulously. “Urahara-san rescued you?”

Ichigo scowled. “Not exactly. He told us about what happened to Inoue and I got dropped off here to go help rescue her.”

Ishida watched Ichigo for a moment, a frown on his face. “So, these people, the Vaizard... they kidnapped you, but then they just let you go?”

“Well... not ‘let go’, exactly,” Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. “More like forced to go, with a guard watching me like a hawk.”

“There’s a Vaizard here?” Ishida glanced around.

“Not here, obviously.” Ichigo rolled his eyes, getting to his feet. “I kind of ditched the guard when I got buried by that sand hollow. Speaking of, we’d better get moving or she’s going to find me again.”

“Kurosaki, you will never cease to amaze me,” Ishida sighed, shaking his head and getting up as well.

Ichigo shrugged, and then turned to frown at what looked like a large slug-like hollow. “What is that?” he asked. “And you never did say who those three are... Why are you hanging out with a bunch of hollows?”

“Bunch of hollowth? How rude!” the girl interjected, speaking with a heavy lisp. “I’m Nell Tu!”

“Dondochakka, don’tcha know!” the large hollow called out.

“And I’m Pesche!” announced the tall, skinny one. “Together we are...”

All three of them struck a pose as they each called out a different name. “The Great Desert Brothers!”, “Bandit Neldonpe!”, “The Three Brothers!”

There was a long pause, and then the three all whirled on each other. “I thought we talked about thith latht time!” Nell cried. “We were going to be Bandit Neldonpe!”

“I told you, I’ll only accept The Great Desert Brothers!” Pesche said angrily.

Dondochakka somehow managed to make his giant hollow mask look sad. “I really want to have The Three Brothers in there, don’tcha know...”

Ichigo stared as the three of them continued bickering. Then he turned to Ishida and Chad for an explanation.

Ishida adjusted his glasses. “We ran into them playing tag when we first got here. We didn’t realize they were all friends, or that she was an Arrancar, and we assumed she was being attacked.”

Ichigo blinked at him; then examined the three more closely. “Understandable, I suppose... They’re Arrancar? Really?”

“Well, Nell is, anyway.”

Nell stopped arguing with her ‘brothers’ to frown at Ichigo and she nodded hard. “Of courthe I’m an Arrancar! Don’t you thee my finely cracked mathk?” She pointed at a mask on the top of her head that was indeed cracked down the middle.

“I see...” Ichigo frowned at it. Slowly, something occurred to him. “Hey, that’s right... Hichigo, you can’t be an Arrancar. Whenever you take control, the mask forms and it’s always whole, not broken.”

Hichigo shrugged, smirking. ‘I’ve been thinking about that, actually. Who knows if the same rules would apply for a Vaizard/Arrancar hybrid? We already know that I can do things that are odd for a hollow of any kind. Using Zangetsu in both Shikai and Bankai, for instance.’

Ichigo thought about this. “True. When an Arrancar releases their zanpakutou, it usually disappears and they turn more hollow-ish. But Zangetsu is permanently released...”

‘So, I guess my ‘released form’ is just what I look like normally when I take control,’ Hichigo grinned. ‘That’s why the mask isn’t broken when it forms. If I am an Arrancar, my released form is that of a Vaizard.’

“That’s... really weird.”

‘Nobody ever said that my existence made any sense.’

Ishida was waving a hand in Ichigo’s face. “Oi! Kurosaki! You okay?”

Ichigo blinked, then nodded and started heading towards the big slug hollow thing. “I’m fine. Just thinking. We’d better get going. So, what’s this thing?”

“Thith ith our pet, Bawabawa!” Nell explained, nimbly jumping up onto its back. Dondochakka and Pesche followed suit. “Thay ‘Hi’, Bawabawa!”

“Baaawaaa!” the hollow made a strange noise that was apparently the reason for the name it had.

“Good Bawabawa!” Nell said happily. “Come on, let’th go!”

Ishida, Chad, and Ichigo got up onto the hollow’s back and Nell skipped over to sit in Ichigo’s lap, much to his confusion. Then, more quickly than Ichigo would have thought possible for a hollow of this size, Bawabawa began to move forward towards Las Noches.

“What were you saying before, about Rukia and Renji?” Ishida asked Ichigo after a moment.

Ichigo frowned, trying to think of what Ishida was talking about, and then he remembered. “Oh. I just noticed that they weren’t here yet.”

“What do you mean, yet? Why would they be here at all?”

“That’s what Sandal-hat told me,” Ichigo explained. “He said that you two would be coming to Hueco Mundo shortly after I did, and that Rukia and Renji would come as soon as they could. And some unknown time after that, Soul Society’s sending us backup.”

Ishida looked somewhat agitated. “Soul Society? They’re not sending backup. That’s why Rukia and Renji aren’t here now; they were forced to go back.”

Ichigo smirked. “That’s Soul Society’s official stance, yeah. But they’re going to start their ‘main attack’ on Hueco Mundo sometime while we’re here. Not technically helping us, but helping us anyway. And Rukia and Renji are just going to come despite Soul Society’s orders, like you guys did.”

“Too many Shinigami are getting involved,” Ishida muttered to himself. “My loophole for being here is closing...”

Nell was staring up at them in alarm. “Thinigami are gunna be attacking Hueco Mundo?” she asked in horror. “There are gunna be bad guyth here?”

Ichigo frowned down at her, having forgotten he had her sitting on him. “Um... Bad guys?” he asked.

“Yeah! Didn’t you know?” Nell blinked at him with confusion. “There’th people out there whoth job it ith to kill hollowth like uth! That’th who the thinigami are!”

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her; then he glanced up at Chad and Ishida. “Oh boy...”

Nell looked upset. “What? What’th going on?”

“Er... I guess I never introduced myself to you guys, did I?” Ichigo said, a little nervously. He wasn’t sure what the small Arrancar’s reaction to this was going to be, and she was still sitting on him...

“Not really,” Nell admitted, curious now.

Ichigo hesitated. “I’m Kurosaki Ichigo. I’m a Shinigami representative.”

“Itsugo, huh? That’th a cool name...” Nell thought about this for a moment, and then froze. Stiffly, she climbed off of Ichigo, turned around and frowned at him. “Wait. You’re a what?”

“Shinigami representative,” Ichigo said again slowly.

As Ichigo expected, Nell freaked out. “It’th a bad guy!” she wailed, pointing at Ichigo. “We’th all gunna die!”

Ichigo sighed. “Calm down; I’m not going to hurt you.”

“But... but, you... but...”

“It’s okay,” Ichigo tried again. “I’m a nice Shinigami.”

“But... but...”

Nell wasn’t saying anything but gibberish at this point, so Ichigo sighed and changed the subject. “Ishida, what were you talking about before, about a loophole?” He paused in thought. “For that matter, where have you been for the past month? And when did you get your Quincy powers back again?”

Ishida didn’t answer for a moment, so Chad spoke up quietly. “Urahara-san told me that he was training with his father... And that the conditions for that training were that he must not associate with Shinigami from now on.”

“I was able to come to Hueco Mundo because there were no Shinigami involved,” Ishida explained tersely. “It was just me and Sado-kun trying to rescue Inoue-san. Now, though...”

“Oh.” Ichigo shrugged. “Well, you couldn’t have known you were going to stumble upon me,” he said off-handedly. “We’re not working together or anything, we just happen to both be traveling the same direction.”

Ishida smiled a little. “Of course. Isn’t that how we always work, Kurosaki?”

With an overdramatic sigh, Ichigo smirked. “You’re right. Oh, well.”

Nell had been watching Ichigo suspiciously during this whole exchange, and finally she scampered up along Bawabawa’s length to go sit by the other two hollows, whispering frantically to them.

Ichigo watched them for a while, worrying that they would have to fight the three of them, but slowly, they seemed to calm down and just accept the fact that he was there, watching him with curiosity.

He had a dark suspicion that the girl would be back soon to start asking him random questions. She seemed to be fascinated by him for some reason, and while this meant that they got to keep their ride, it was mildly annoying. He didn’t have much experience dealing with kids...

‘Hey, at least the girl is proof to the others that Arrancar aren’t necessarily horrible and evil,’ Hichigo pointed out smugly. ‘Makes your life easier.’

Ichigo frowned. “Hopefully... Of course, I’m still not sure that you aren’t horrible and evil. You still haven’t told me what you’re planning.”

‘And I’m not going to,’ Hichigo said again, grinning. Ichigo just sighed, having expected that, and returned his attention to what was going on around him.

The group rode on mostly in silence for a long time, watching as Las Noches slowly crept closer and closer.

... And then the chapter came to an abrupt end. XD

Okay, not really. I guess it just seems that way to me because I was planning on having another scene at the end here and I ultimately decided to save it for next chapter.

So, this chapter wasn’t nearly as long as the last chapter. (Thank goodness. That was ridiculous!) But it was still really long... And it definitely had some weird stuff in it...

And now, here are some of my overly long, probably skippable play-by-play comments on it... (Seriously, who writes author notes that are a thousand words long? Honestly...)

First off, the Hichigo is an Arrancar thing... At first, it sounds crazy, but once it’s explained, it makes so much sense! o.o Weird...

It’s not really applicable in the actual manga/anime anymore, though, since Ichigo defeated his inner hollow, so I’ll never find out if we were right. u.u But still.

XD Ichigo’s all worried about Hichigo’s motives... But we know what they are! Muahahaha...

Random note: Urahara brings up the idea that Ichigo’s inner hollow would be trying to eat him if he weren’t an Arrancar because of something Hirako said in canon as he sent Ichigo to his inner world. “Don’t let it eat you. Eat it instead. If it eats you, it’s over.” ... Yeah, it's kind of an odd statement, considering that Hichigo never tries to eat Ichigo, just kill him...

I’m not sure why I decided to make Lisa so mean to Ichigo, but I’m glad I did. XD It’s funny.

I worry sometimes that my reasonings and how I say things don’t make sense to others. But I’ve been told I need to worry less about these sorts of things, so eh.

On a related note... For the first time, I don’t think anybody thinks too much this chapter. XD Rukia emos too much, but that’s totally in character. :D

Random note on pairings. I may have mentioned this before, but this fic will not have any actual pairings in it. This does not, however, stop me from doing what the actual series does and imply things everywhere. XD Renji’s awkwardness is amusing.

... I take no credit for the awful, horrible, valley-girl bird Arrancar, and I’m sorry for any pain she caused. XD I was complaining to Katie that I hate creating original characters, especially if I’m just going to kill them right away... She suggested creating a character that I wouldn’t mind killing. Like a really annoying preppy girl. Or a bird. (Birds hate me. And attack me. I don’t know why.) And thus, this Arrancar was born. I hated her. She died. (And we're ignoring the fact that Japanese probably doesn't have a "valley-girl accent" equivalent...)

Quick note on battle scenes... Eh heh... Yeah, I really suck at writing battle scenes. There are two in this chapter, and they’re both horrible. XD sorry.

This chapter is brought to you by Sand! It’s everywhere. Get used to it. Ugh, I had to write the word ‘sand’ so many times, it drove me nuts. I hate using the same word over and over again; it’s repetitive. But sand has no synonyms that I’m aware of, so I just had to become insane because of it.

I apologize for the sand hollow’s incredibly cheesy entrance and its subsequent cheesy lines. XD I know it’s horrible, but it strikes me as the kind of hollow that would do that...

I was hoping that the latest mangas would show the Vaizard fighting so that I could get a feel for what Lisa’s sword abilities are. They didn’t, so now I just have to hope that her zanpakutou isn’t a water or electricity type of some sort, or my chapter will look silly. XD

Everyone I’ve asked has reassured me that Nell is perfectly understandable even with her lisp, but I worry about it anyway. I’ve always hated writing in accents of any kind (which is part of the reason I never bothered trying to give Hichigo any sort of casual-talk accent) so I came pretty close to just writing her text normally and adding in some note somewhere that mentioned she was talking with a lisp...

Nell’s game of I spy... It’s Hueco Mundo; there are a half million things there that are white besides the sand. The trees. The moon. Ishida’s outfit. Chad’s pants. Bawabawa’s head. Nell, Dondochakka, or Peshe’s masks. And yet she keeps picking the same thing over and over. Poor Ishida.

You know, Ishida and Chad have no idea what a Vaizard actually is, even in canon... Their reactions to this knowledge shall be fun to watch... Especially if Hichigo decides to give them a demonstration...

Yes, Nell does still find Ichigo fascinating. I mean, how many times have you been traveling along only to find some guy almost completely buried in the sand, and he joins your group of travelers once you unbury him? XD

Katie and I have pondered and theorized about just about every aspect of this Hichigo is an Arrancar thing that we could possibly ponder and theorize about, and the comments Ichigo makes about the mask is just part of the proof of that.

We love coming up with this sort of stuff, especially when it’s something like this. And we like to think that other people think about our theories too, looking for counter theories to ours. As Shells once told me, “Quit worrying so much about it! Nobody thinks about this as hard as you do!” ... So, if you do find an inconsistency with our theory, or other plot points, please point it out! We’d love to think about it!

Let’s see, what else can I ramble about...? Oh! (I’ve wanted to do this for a while now. Humor me.) Katie! What’s our hit count for Feeling Hollow?

Katie: It’s OVER NINE THOUSAND!!

Daricio: O.O Over nine thousand?! What?! (Is suddenly pelted by rotten tomatoes and things due to her terrible reference) Ack!

XD But, no, seriously, the hit count for Feeling Hollow is that high, and you people are amazing. Thanks so much for reading and for your reviews! :D You make me feel happy.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one!